The black jeans were tightly fitted to her body and she knew they did great things for her ass and legs. The bootcut hem flared slightly over the turquoise blue cowboy ankle boots she had on. A wide silver and turquoise embellished belt buckle on a black leather belt cinched in her waist.
She’d gotten ballsy though, choosing to tie on a black and white paisley bandana as her top. It was tied in the center of her back, leaving her shoulders and most of her back completely bare, as well as her sides where the overlapped corners of the bandana dipped down toward her belt buckle. Chunky silver and turquoise earrings dangled from her pierced ears, and her fiery red hair had been left down to riot around her shoulders in haphazard curls.
Neal would have lost his mind if she’d tried to wear such an outfit. Actually, if he saw her in it, hewouldlose his mind. It was probably unwise to wear something this risqué in light of his most recent note… it was probably unwise for her to be out at all, honestly. But it was a highly public place, with lots of other people around, including bar employees as well as bouncers. She would be fine.
Hopefully.
Tossing her hair over her bare shoulders, she grinned. She was going out, for the first time in months it felt like. “Give me one of those shots.”
“Yes, bestie!”
Eighteen
Her partner’s hands were light on her as they circled the dance floor, and he was good, practiced. His sandy blonde hair was curly and had that Morgan Wallen mullet look to it, which made her laugh every time she caught sight of it peaking beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. He looked young, maybe twenty-four or twenty-five and way too innocent, like a puppy dog. But, he was a good dancer and kept up with her, even if his hands were bravely resting on the low curve of her bare back, nearly at her ass.
The song ended and the group of them applauded just as the next song began. His hands came back to rest low on her back, leading her around the dancefloor. But halfway through the song, she stumbled, her eyes widening as she searched the crowd for what she’d just seen.Was that—
Roxy swung her eyes left and right on a continuous loop, her feet never faltering in the practiced steps, but she knew… she knew he was out there, somewhere. He was watching her. It was cloying, like he was physically touching her. It made her skin crawl.
That same chest tightening, breath stealing sense of being watched made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, butshe shook herself mentally. The honky-tonk was crowded for a Friday night, the dance floor jam packed and the standing room only that surrounded the fenced in dance floor was elbow to elbow, too. The bar was two deep. She could just see Natalie’s blonde hair as it shone in the blue and red stage lights that bloomed over the bar.
Lainey Wilson’sWatermelon Moonshinebegan and they settled into a slower moving dance, and she let her focus leave the crowd beyond the dancefloor, convincing herself she was just paranoid, especially after that note earlier. She was fine. She was having fun. She was out for the first time in what felt like forever.
When the song ended, she excused herself from the guy she’d been dancing with and weaved her way across the dance floor through the throng of bodies gearing up for the next dance to begin, heading toward the door. It was stifling hot in the crowded room. While Natalie was busy getting them drinks, she stepped outside to get some fresh air and cool her fevered body. Gathering her heavy curls off her neck and shoulders, she secured it on top of her head with a hair tie that was around her wrist, arranging it into an artfully messy knot. She passed a group of men and women as they entered the building, and she was blissfully alone outside. The loud thumping of the bass from the song‘Freight Train’drowned out everything, until the door slammed shut, muffling it slightly. Roxy wandered down the side of the building, tilting her chin up toward the night sky and reveling in the stars that were visible above her. The breeze that drifted around her cooled her bare shoulders and back, causing light goosebumps to rise along her skin.
Boots crunched on the gravel to her left and she dropped her chin, whipping her head around to the person that had just stepped up close beside her. Roxy’s throat closed and fear skittered over her when Neal’s face loomed over her, his own lips pulled into a grimace of a smile, his eyes zeroed in on her.
Roxy stumbled back a step as he murmured to her, that slow, calculated drawl sending goosebumps over her flesh. “You’re in a lot of trouble, darlin’.”
She shook her head as he stepped forward again, bringing them within inches of each other, and he reached for her. Shoving the heels of her hands into his chest, she pushed with all of her strength, sending him stumbling back several steps as she turned and fled.
She ran, pumping her legs as fast as she could. She had wandered too far away from the door, and she had taken off in the wrong direction as she ran. She had nowhere to go, no doors to enter, no way to get back into the building unless she doubled back, which wasn’t an option. She would never make it past him.
So she put on a burst of speed, pumping her legs as fast as she could as she crossed into the rows of parked cars in the parking lot beyond on the backside of the building. Maybe if she could weave her way through them and hide from him long enough, she could make it back to the doors, to the safety of the inside of the building. She could find Natalie, or a security guard, anyone that could help her. Because out here in the deserted and dark parking lot, she was at his mercy.
Dodging between a row of vehicles, she let out a scream of terror when she heard gravel beneath his boots, the grunting of his breaths as he chased after her. He was too close. She wasn’t going to make it back to the doors
Racing around a different row of cars, she backtracked and ducked behind one, clamping her hand over her mouth to stifle her panting breaths. She heard his feet on the gravel as he passed her, racing forward. Barely daring to breathe, she remained hunkered down behind a car, her body hidden by the tire. If he decided to look under the rows of vehicles, she wouldn’t be visible. She was angry with herself for putting the gun back in her bag instead of in her purse like she shouldhave. She hadn’t even thought of it before she left. Lot of good it was doing her where it was, safely tucked into the gym bag… at home.
There was no moonlight, the sky cloud-filled and dark. The only light was that of the streetlight poles stationed throughout the expansive parking lot, but she was too far away from any of them for the light to reach her.
“Come on, baby,” she heard him croon on a call throughout the darkness. She trembled violently. He was only a few rows away from her, stationed between herself and the doors now. He knew her plan and was cutting off her only escape. Panic seized her throat. She could hear the crunch of gravel beneath his feet as he walked, slowly now, around vehicles and down row by row. His voice was chilling, and how she had ever found him to be attractive eluded her now. He was terrifying. “Come out, Rox, and I won’t hurt you. If I have to find you…” He let the threat drift off, but she knew what it meant. “You let that guy touch you, put his hands on you while you were dancing. You know what happens when someone else touches what’s mine.” Chills went down her spine. “It’s probably my fault, doll, I’ve been gone for so long you forgot what the consequences are. But now I have to remind you, and I’m sorry for it.”
Shifting as quietly as she could on the balls of her feet, using her hands on the car she was using as a shield to balance, she crawled around the backside of the car. The sound of the gravel shifting beneath her cowboy booted feet may have been nearly silent, but it sounded like a goddamn bomb going off in her head.
“Rox…” he called again, that chilling tone in his voice lilting and squeezing her throat closed again in panic. She knew if he found her, if he got his hands on her, he would hurt her. Knew it with every fiber of her being. But he was still between her and the doors… and she had left Natalie inside… “Don’t make mehave to find you, Rox. I love you. I don’t want to have to hurt you, but you do need to learn your lesson. You’ve been disobedient in my absence.”
Skirting around another car, a tear slid down her cheek when she saw his shadow pass where she’d been minutes before. He was too close now to safely move, he would hear her for sure. Clamping her teeth tightly over her lips from the inside, she attempted to steady her breathing through her nose, but she felt like she was suffocating. She should have known after that note had shown up. She should have known better than to tempt his wrath.
Natalie had to realize she was missing, right? Had to realize that she wasn’t on the dance floor anymore…
A fist thumped into the hood of the car she was hiding behind and she nearly screamed, jumping in terror. Fear tasted metallic in her mouth and she shook violently. “Rox… I’m giving you one more chance, baby. Come out. I didn’t want to have to hurt you…”
He was so close. Standing just on the other side of the car now. Any second he was going to round the hood and he would be able to see her. She needed to run, but she was frozen in fear. He was too fast. There was no getting away from him now.
His footsteps faded in the opposite direction, the gravel crunching beneath his feet and she sucked in a lungful of air, letting it out shakily. Shifting, she was poised and ready to make a mad dash toward the doors when her head was suddenly snapped back by her hair and she screamed a heartbeat before a hand was slapped over her mouth. Dragged backward off the balls of her feet, she landed on her bottom in the gravel as his fingers fisted around the topknot of her hair, yanking so sharply that tears sprang to her eyes and a muffled cry escaped her.
Instinctively, her hands came up and wrapped around the forearm that had a hold of her hair, attempting to take some ofher weight off the hair being pulled from her scalp. When that didn’t do anything, she reached up and dragged her fingernails down his arm, at the same time attempting to sink her teeth into the hand still covering her mouth. He grunted in pain, but it did little to help. Instead, he shook her violently by her hair, making her cry out again behind his palm.
